


Gone Rogue

by dreamsheartstory



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-03
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-04-19 20:46:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4760495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsheartstory/pseuds/dreamsheartstory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which ruby and regina are rogue spies that start off on opposite sides of a feud</p><p> </p><p>or</p><p> </p><p>what happens when you throw evil!snow, bandit!regina, and ambiguously aligned!ruby into a spy au</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gone Rogue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SarcasticGhoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarcasticGhoul/gifts).



To most people she was simply known as The Bandit. Few people knew her real name, and even fewer were permitted to use it.

“Regina, do you have the specs on the bank job drawn up yet?”

“They’re on your desk, have been all day, Snow.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

Snow White swept through the living room, two fresh cups of coffee in hand, she handed one to Regina as she passed by. They had been partners ever since Regina had saved her life during training back when they had both worked for MI6, and were still idealistic enough to believe they could save the world by working for the good guys. Now it was just Regina, Snow, and James, and when they needed them a ring of freelancers.

“We leave in ten!” Regina called after her before turning back to her laptop. She was the mastermind behind a ring of rogue spies, former MI6 agents who decided upholding the law wasn’t nearly as fun as tearing down the multinational corporations who ran the world. It was much easier to do the right thing when you didn’t have to cut through red tape to do it. Modern day Robin Hoods they always joked.

An hour later the selected security deposit boxes had been emptied into six duffle bags. The job had gone exactly to plan, their inside plant having proved their worth and then been disposed of. Regina was making a final sweep before heading out to the getaway van when a tall leggy brunette stepped into the hallway blocking her path.

Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail giving her a fierce angular look and her dark eyes were cold. She wore black like a modern day ninja; she was death come alive. “Drop the bags.”

“I don’t know what you’re doing, but you best move before my partner blows off your head.”

Snow held a gun to the back of the woman’s head for a second before taking a step around her and pointing it at Regina. “You heard her, Regina, drop the bags, hands up.”

Regina threw the bags to the ground and pressed her lips in a thin line. Something had been off, the job had gone too smoothly, and this was why: it was a set up. Snow took a step forward, retrieving the bags, then backed away never letting Regina out of her sight. The third woman stood still, feet shoulder width apart, arms loose at her sides, imposing despite her lithe frame.

“Why the change of heart?” This was the woman she had saved from death, one of her closest friends. Her only friend. Yet they lived in a world of spies and deceit. That knowledge didn't keep her heart from feeling the pain of the betrayal.

“You got too greedy. Sorry it has to be this way,” Snow smiled.

“They got to you didn’t they? MI6.”

“You know, actually, no, I’m not sorry. You’ve had this coming for a long time, ever since you betrayed us and went rogue.” Snow ducked out the back door, the last of the bags in her hand. The door thudded shut, and the tires of the getaway van squealed on the pavement. There was a moment of silence where Regina locked eyes with the woman who had stopped her. There could only be one person that MI6 would send after her.

“So you’re the one they call The Wolf?” Regina licked her lips surprised by the other woman's beauty. Even with all her years with MI6 she had never met their master assassin; she had only existed as a fairy tale to scare agents from going rogue.

“And you’re The Bandit.”

Regina circled around the tall brunette, sizing her up. She brushed fingertips up the woman’s arm, feeling the heat between them. “You’re even more stunning than the rumors claimed. Though, to be honest, you look more like a puppy than a wolf.”

The woman’s face was stone, cheekbones chiseled and sharp, but there was a youth to her that made her look soft. Her voice was affected and low, a thin growl, “Aren’t you worried I’m going to kill you?” There was a twitch of a smile, whether she was pleased by Regina’s boldness because it would make the kill fun, or out of some attraction or respect it was hard to tell. Regina felt drawn to her.

“Oh, you’ll try, but this isn’t your style, too easy.” Regina waved a gloved hand as she stopped in front of the other woman. She took a step forward nearly pressed up against her. Forced to tilt her head up to meet the other woman’s eyes she was close enough to feel her breath. She brushed the backs of her fingers across the smooth plane of the other woman's cheek. “No, you’ll let me go and come after me later. If you can catch me, pup.” Regina’s grin was impish as she paused for one last second, stopping herself from giving into the impulse to kiss the woman sent to kill her before running out the door and into the twilight.

___________________

Regina ran for a year, The Wolf always was two steps behind her, an elaborate game of cat and mouse. During that time she learned The Wolf’s real name, Ruby, and that she had a penchant for red and a lust for blood that was barely contained by MI6. She left a trail of it in her wake and there was something seductive in the way she killed.

The first time she found one of Ruby's kills was after she had been given bad intel on a heist. There were more guards on the estate than she had counted for making her escape nearly impossible until she had found the first body, throat slit cleanly he was arranged as if in prayer. The next had a crossbow bolt through his shoulder, he sat as if relaxing against a tree. The third bore no readily evident signs of death but the small residue of pink froth on his lips. He lay slouched over a table.

Regina escaped easily following the trail of blood. She knew Ruby was nearby, watching, but she had no choice. When she left her hotel that night she placed three large rubies on the nightstand, one for each of the kills, knowing Ruby would follow her there first. As the year waned on they left a thousand love letters to each other spelled out in gemstones and blood.

It was the end of summer in Paris before Ruby left a message not written in the blood of their enemies, a proposition to end this game, and take revenge on the people who had stolen the last year of their lives by sending them on this chase. On the shore of the Mediterranean, on the edge of Vieille Nice, Regina waited, knowing that Ruby would never kill her in the open. It was a gamble, trusting the note, but she was too intrigued by what had passed between them to ignore it.

So, she sat at a table on the water’s edge, drink in hand, looking out over the breaking waves. If nothing else she was tired of running and wanted to see Ruby face to face again. A waiter brought a second drink and left it on the table without a word. Even though the rest of the Opéra Plage restaurant was overrun with clientele, she was alone on her little section of beach. Money had exchanged hands, someone else setting the playing field. There was a crunch of rocks, ocean smoothed pebbles grinding against each other as someone stepped across them lightly.

Ruby slid into the empty chair as the sun began to set, an orange red glow to their right that faded to cotton candy pink streaks in front of them. Their chairs were sat close together, close enough Regina could feel the heat from Ruby’s arm against her own. Being so close after the year of watching each other from afar was more intoxicating than the champagne. Ruby picked up her glass and sipped it for a moment before turning to Regina.

“What would you say to a truce?”

“How could I possibly trust you?”

“You’re sitting here, alive, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

Ruby paused for a moment and looked out over the water, “I want Snow White dead.”

Regina turned to look at Ruby and couldn’t keep a smile from tugging at her lips. Ruby was just as stunning as the day Snow White had betrayed Regina and sent her running. Today though her hair was loose, falling in waves around her face. A long rust red and cream summer dress clung to her frame, her arms bare. She had tanned to a light nut brown in the sun. They had spent much of the last year chasing each other from beach to beach. There was still a chill in her gaze though, something precious had been stolen from her.

“Why?”

“She killed my grandmother, had her locked up and tortured when I didn’t bring in your head on a silver platter.” Ruby’s clutched her glass tightly. Her tone didn’t match her words. “So now I want hers.”

“Okay," Regina nodded. "First we guarantee our escape.”

“How?”

“I know where we can get six million in untraceable jewels, but what’s to keep you from killing me once we get them?”

Ruby turned her head and caught Regina’s gaze. Her eyes softened, a warm look, yearning. She licked her lips nervously. Regina almost jumped when she felt Ruby’s fingers trailing up her arm drawing soft lines, she was so entranced by the way the other woman looked at her. Ruby’s eyes flicked down to Regina’s lips and back up, questioningly as she tilted her head. Regina closed the distance between them finally giving in to the impulse to kiss the woman hired to kill her.

When Ruby pulled away she only had one answer, "I could never kill you.”

___________________

They stole the jewels.

They almost killed Snow White.

Then Snow White and half of MI6 descended on their hideout in the French Riviera capturing Regina and killing Ruby. At least that’s the story they told Regina to ensure her to help in taking down the rest of her ring of rogue agents.

Approximately two years after Regina’s capture she found herself being escorted to a new location deep inside MI6 instead of to the gym like she normally was in the afternoons. The gym was her only solace from the white glow of her room and its omnipresent light. Regina only knew they were headed somewhere new because they turned left instead of right after the third hallway - she was always blindfolded when they left her room, and even though they didn’t take the same route every time, she knew she had never been down this hallway before. It smelled less like people working out and more like an office; paper, graphite, machinery. It sounded mundane.

As always when presented to the agents in charge the blindfold was whipped off with a flourish by some underling. Regina found herself squinting in the bright light of the office which was modern and grey, no windows or decorations. In the single chair behind the expansive desk sat a petite woman, black brown hair cropped short, skin only a shade darker than the white suit she wore, lips as red as the blood she had spilt. Regina kept her expression neutral, flexing her fingers. They itched to wrap around the dainty neck. It had been Snow White's treason that had killed Ruby and led to Regina's capture. There was a gun on the desk and she wanted to know if it was loaded. It probably wasn’t but she still wanted to hold it up to that delicate face and pull the trigger after all she had done.

"R, don't think because we're giving to the rest of J’s mission we're promoting you to 007 status.” Snow lay her hands flat on the clear glass desk and pressed herself to standing. She had traded in Regina’s freedom for a pardon and her old job back. Her heels clicked softly on the shiny tile as she walked around it. "Regina? Have you even been listening?"

“You don’t get to call me that anymore,” Regina growled, her hands clenching in anger. MI6 would never grant her release, she was almost certain, but maybe if she were useful she could escape one day. It was an exasperating game and one she was tired of playing.

“R, the mission.”

“Yes, yes. Kill the girl and then turn in my license and my gun. You’ve made that abundantly clear every time we do this dance.”

“And don’t let her run off with the six million in untraceable gems.”

Regina swallowed and paused, that six million in untraceable gems was the last tie she had to Ruby. They had circled back to the start, which meant Regina was nearly at the end of her usefulness to MI6. Ruby had hidden the gems before her murder, which meant that the only person that had a chance of finding them was Regina. No one else alive could find the gems, she was certain of that. Regina pressed her hands into the desk, leaning on it to hide the shaking, “Is that all?”

“Yes.”

___________________

Everything about this mission pulled her back to that night from her dress, a deep purple asymmetrical cut that left little to the imagination - she would be relying on her wiles to get her mark to her weapons - to the location, they were back at the Opéra Plage and the sun was setting at the end of the beach, the evening air still warm. Tonight a DJ was playing a set as rich young twenty somethings ground together on the dance floor. Champagne flowed like the incoming ocean tide. As Regina picked her way carefully through the crowd she could feel eyes on her, watching, seeing who she would go to. Ordering a drink she perched at a bistro table as if awaiting a friend, or a date.

Pulling out her phone she made as if to text, even as she scanned the crowd. Her handler, Killian, had yet to give her a description of her mark. Usually she was fully briefed by the time she walked into any mission. This felt wrong, off, but she had no authority to question it. Regina had learned quickly if she asked too many of the wrong questions she would be locked away again. Finishing her champagne in one long drink she set down the glass to see a tall leggy brunette walk into the bar. She nearly smashed the glass on the table from surprise.

It was her. It had to be her. No one else had that wild glint in their eye or had a smile so sharp it could cut. No one else had that look about them that made you want to welcome death by their hand if only first they would kiss you. She was just standing there, blood red floor length dress clinging to her lithe frame, a slit cut dangerously high on her hip. Her dark chestnut hair fell in waves around her bare shoulders. Regina felt her breath catch, her heart stutter. It had been two years since she had seen Ruby, but she was dead, Regina had seen the blood, so it couldn’t be her. Snow had told Regina it had been at her own hand, but she had never seen the body. Snow would pay for that lie, but Regina would have to hold on to her revenge for later. The job came first, she was being watched too closely right now to make a move. The job always came first, because if that wasn’t Ruby and it was just some girl that looked like her she still had to take out her mark and stay one step ahead of Snow. Two years in a white room had driven her to paranoia.

It was Ruby, there was no doubt in Regina’s mind. The way she walked like she owned everything, as if everyone owed her. Truth was, they did, if she wanted them dead there would be no hesitation. Everyone alive owed her their life. Memories hit her, the taste of Ruby’s perfume in the back of her throat earthy and powerful, the way her hands felt impossibly soft, Ruby had joked that the blood kept them soft. Regina placed a hand on her stomach, steadying herself, her heart fluttering.

“Everything okay there, R?” Killian asked. “Your monitor is going crazy.”

Regina touched her ear, “Yeah, K, just saw something I’d love to have, but you know how it goes, another night.” Her response was flippant, it had to be. If it was Ruby and Snow thought she was dead, she couldn’t clue them in. Then again, if they knew she was alive… Killian’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Maybe later tonight if you don’t make too much noise.”

“Maybe.” Regina wondered just how much he knew.

Making her way over to the bar she leaned on it heavily scanning the crowd. Her eyes feel back to Ruby but she looked away. She had to find her mark and finish the job. Maybe Ruby would still be in the bar when she was done. All she had to do was get the girl out of the room, take her out, get the key and get it to the next Snow agent without alerting anyone. Easy. If only she could find a way to find out the location that the key unlocked and run off with the gems herself.

The bartender slid her a drink and a napkin. “La dame,” he indicated the lady in red across the bar with the tilt of his head and shrugged before walking off.

The woman’s hips swayed as she walked across the bar, each step flashing an impossible length of leg perched on impossibly high heels. Regina tore her gaze from the bare skin of the woman’s leg and her eyes wandered up over the curves she had memorized on sheets as black as their deeds. She pursed her lips. If Ruby had been alive this entire time why had she heard nothing? Why had she been left to rot in MI6 and only let out on Snow’s mercy? Before she could think to speak Ruby stopped in front of her.

Ruby reached out tentatively, her long fingers ghosting over the back of Regina’s hand for a moment before continuing up her arm. The touch sent electricity through her, steadying her, Regina’s heart beat slowed. Time froze and she let out a steadying breath. The impossible had happened and that meant tonight anything was possible.

“Hello,” Regina purred, her hand slid around Ruby’s waist.

Ruby pulled her close, her arm wrapping around Regina’s shoulders. She dipped her head to whisper against the shell of Regina’s ear, lips just brushing skin, “We meet again, almost like we never left.”

“I knew it was you,” Regina whispered against her collarbone. She didn’t know if she could trust this. Ruby was supposed to be dead and there was no way she could ask, no way she could confirm that this wasn’t some trick, some test, and what if Ruby blamed her for the lost gems? She had been played by someone. Snow had lied about her death, which meant she could have lied about everything. For this one moment though she was going to enjoy the feeling of Ruby’s arms around her. There was no time for dalliances tonight, not if she wanted either of them to live.

A delicate finger tipped Regina’s chin up. A wicked smile was on Ruby’s lips, the one Regina knew meant tonight she was out for blood and her heart beat faster with fear and excitement. The question was, whose blood was she after?

Killian’s voice was high and tinny in her ear. "That's your mark."

Regina look around, "Where?" she whispered, a hand coming quickly to her ear.

"The girl with her arm around you.”

Regina’s lips parted in a silent ‘o’ and her eyes fell to Ruby’s face. This couldn’t be. She had only just found out she had been played, again, a long con to take down her ring of thieves with no chance of escape and for the first time since the night it all went wrong she had the woman who she had sacrificed everything for in her arms again. She cursed internally and forced a smile onto her face. They must have found out Ruby was alive, which meant Ruby had taken out James, and this was Regina’s test of allegiance. They didn’t trust her, and she didn’t know if there was anyone left she could trust.

Ruby gave her a small wave before moving into place a kiss on her cheek as she plucked the comm device out of Regina’s ear. She dropped it into the glass of champagne the bartender had just placed on the bar top as a server whisked it away.

“There, now we can actually talk.” Her grin was wild, she looked as crazed as Regina felt. Ruby knew she was working for Snow, which meant she was here for one of two reasons: take out Regina or recover the gems.

“How did you know?” Regina pulled back, overwhelmed by the proximity to Ruby and the implications of her being alive.

“I ditched mine about five minutes ago,” Ruby worried at her bottom lip with her teeth and Regina realized she had been locked up too. Neither of them had known the real parameters of their mission tonight. It was all a set up.

“Which means we have maybe three minutes to get out of here,” Regina scanned the room looking for the other operatives she had entered with. They were nowhere to be seen. If she kept on mission, get Ruby up to her room, maybe she could by them some time. “Follow my lead,” she took Ruby’s hand and started walking them back into the hotel. “You’ve been working for Snow this whole time?”

“She told me you were dead.” Ruby’s hand was warm in Regina’s and she wondered for a moment if she were dreaming. It wasn’t like she hadn’t dreamed about her being alive before. The havoc they could wreak together, The Wolf and The Bandit. They would tear apart MI6, starting with Snow White. A warm breeze started up, the salt of the ocean in the air and for a moment she was transported back to that night, drunk on excitement and expensive champagne paid for by a man they had never met. She snapped herself out of the reverie. There would be no rest until Snow White paid for what she had done. Her pace quickened.

“That’s what they told me. How long have you known I wasn’t?”

“Six minutes.”

Regina drained the drink still in her free hand and set the glass down heavily on the bar as she pressed Ruby back against it. They were both wearing heels and she had to go up on tip toe to kiss the other woman and that’s exactly what she did. She had spent the last two years thinking Ruby was dead and if this was going to be her last few minutes of freedom she wasn’t going to miss her chance. Her heart had been ripped apart when Snow had dragged her handcuffed past the pool of blood where she had last seen her lover. The kiss was heat and need, two years of heartbreak relived each night as she had gone to bed. Ruby kissed her back hungrily, her hand tangling in the hair at the nape of Regina’s neck. Her hand was on Ruby’s neck and she could feel the pulse there, thudding rapidly, so very alive. Whose blood had Snow White shown her? Regina pulled back, resting on her heels her hand trailed from Ruby’s neck to her chest her fingertips dancing along the other woman’s collarbone.

Ruby’s lip curled up on one side in a wicked smile. “I was hoping you would still feel that way, did you ever pick out an island?” She slipped her hand to the small of Regina’s back as they made their way out of the bar. Just like old times.

“I thought we’d spin a globe, see where we land. Are they still here?”

“The gems? Oh yes.” Ruby pulled an old ornate key out of her bra. It was tarnished with age and Regina had never seen it before.

“We should go get the guns in my room before Snow realizes we’ve gone rogue again.” Regina started up the stairs but stopped when she didn’t feel Ruby follow behind her.

“They’ve probably rigged half the building to blow. They’ll want us to get the gems and then they’ll take us out. What use are we to them? How many of us did you help them take down?”

“They promised me I could leave.”

“We’re ruthless that’s why we’re still alive.” Ruby barred her teeth, an animalistic gleam in her eye. Footsteps approached and she closed the small distance between them, her hands on Regina’s shoulders, pressed hip to hip, her lips on her neck, ghosting across the skin as she talked. Seduction in murder, “It’s why I couldn’t kill you. No one understands the need for blood and power like you do.”

Regina melted into the touch, one hand on her waist the other on Ruby’s hand, her teeth nipping at her ear, “No one understands revenge like you.”

“She’ll pay for this.”

The footsteps backed away as if the owner was embarrassed.

“How do we get the gems and escape then?”

Ruby pulled back breaking the intimate spell, her eyes still lidded and heavy, lips slightly parted. She took the key back from Regina who had palmed it when they had melted together on the stairwell. “Always on the job aren’t you?” Regina shrugged, old habits died hard.

Just down the hall was the front desk, a single man in a thin black tie and crisp white shirt tucked into pressed slacks. If he had noticed the two women getting cosy on the main stairwell he didn’t indicate it, and he never heard Ruby coming before she knocked him over the head with his own guest ledger. He crumpled to the floor.

“You’re leaving him alive? You’ve gone soft.”

Ruby shrugged, “He’s young, and married, too distracted being in love to realize what’s about to go down.” She knelt down to slide the key card out of his pocket handing it to Regina. His phone screen was still lit up on the desk - a picture of the young man with his arms wrapped around a pretty redhead as they both smiled at the camera. “You haven’t forgotten how to crack a safe have you?”

Regina took the key card and rolled her eyes. “Not a chance.” She pushed through the door into the main office. Before her sat an old safe that it must have been in the hotel since it was built, old enough she could crack it easily without any modern tools. Kneeling down she set to work, her ear to the cool metal as her hand caressed the dial like a long lost lover as she listened for the distinctive click of the tumblers falling into place. She reached the last number with a satisfying click and the safe door swung open on well greased hinges.

Not waiting for Regina to move Ruby slid in front of her, back pressed to front as they looked in on the contents of the safe. Ruby moved aside files and guest valuables, emptying the safe in a matter of seconds, none of it even compared to the prize they were after. Beneath the papers was a false wooden bottom fit in the back with hidden lock, engraved and ornate like the key. The hinges were rusted and protested being opened after so long closed. The space beneath was deeper than the safe, extending to the ground below - a secret chamber protected only by the weight of an almost unmovable safe. Ruby reached in a drew out a leather pouch.

She turned to Regina who extended her hands together palm up as Ruby tipped some of the gems out of the bag. Cut and polished they gleamed in the half light of the office. After two years they finally had the gems and they were so close to freedom. They just had to make it out of the hotel together and alive. Ruby leaned forward, scooping the gems back into the pouch and teasing Regina with an almost kiss.

Voice echoed down the hall and they froze, now was not the time to get distracted by one small victory. Regina grabbed the pouch and stuffed it down her dress, rearranging herself so it nestled between her breasts. There were so few places to hide things safely in a dress especially one as tight as the one Regina had on.

While Regina secured the prize Ruby had dragged the unfortunate desk boy into the office and gagged him. It would be no use if he woke up and started screaming before they had a chance to make a get away. The voices were closer now, distinctive. Regina caught Ruby’s eye, they both recognized the voice: Snow White.

It was a short dash from the front desk back to the staircase, from there they made their way to room 208. They closed the door behind them in silence, breathing heavily, bewildered they had made it unseen. Regina and Ruby started to talk at the same time.

“They were waiting for us to retrieve the gems.”

“They expected this.”

Regina turned in a tight frustrated circle, “They planned on us trying to escape when we saw each other. We just played into their hand.”

“Not everything.” Ruby grinned and indicated the C4 expertly hidden around the room. “They can’t use this now without destroying the gems. Open the window will you?”

Long nimble fingers pulled blast caps from blocks of the grey clay like C4. Instructing Regina to move the blocks to the main door she set to rewiring them after carefully disabling the remote detonator. Wire’s ran from the C4 to the door handle; the next person to open it would get more than they bargained for, even the slightest push would cause an electrical spark, enough pressure and heat to detonate the C4 and effectively take out anyone within six feet of the door. Ruby stepped back to admire her handiwork and sighed contentedly.

“Modern day Thelma and Louise?” Ruby looked over to Regina wild eyed and giddy. This was the life they had missed. The excitement and thrill of the chase, the escape. Life and death. They were not creatures to be caged.

Regina laughed, “You know they die in that, right?”

“As long as I get to kiss you before I go.”

Before Regina could respond Ruby grabbed Regina’s hair and pulled her hard against her, mouth crashing down. Tongue and teeth and need and heart pounding seconds poured into the kiss. Regina pushed back, her hands all over Ruby as every lost moment of the last two years screamed for release ignoring the need for air. Neither moved to end the kiss as footsteps crashed down the hallway, Snow White’s voice outside the door; it was now or never. Was this the beginning or the end?

Ruby pulled away from Regina with a sharp inhale and grabbed her hand. Hair wild, lipstick smeared they ran for the open window in step, free arms pumping. The door handle turned. The door clicked. Another step they were on the window sill, pushing off, leaping into the open air as the door swung open and set off the C4. Heat singed their backs as the force of the blow pushed them out the window. Hand in hand they tumbled through the air praying they cleared the deck and landed in the pool below.

  



End file.
